Self-Publishing––Is it for you?

You’ve written, halfway written or are considering writing a book or some other type of manuscript. In this day and age of DIY, many authors are giving more thought to the idea of publishing their own writing.  Many feel that since they wrote the book, they should also publish it and have greater control over content and marketing.

Is self publishing for you? Let’s take a look at some reasons why you may want to self publish your work.

1.  1st party vs. 3rd party control

If you take your book to a publisher, you’ll have to do a pretty convincing job of ‘selling’ the idea to someone who may but most likely won’t share your enthusiasm for the idea.  On the other hand, it’s your enthusiasm for the book that enabled you to start and finish it. If you give your book over to a publisher, your work will be subject to and shaped by outside thinking, outside interests, outside priorities. If you self publish, you have complete control.

2. More for You

Let’s say your book is able to generate some demand. As a self-publisher, you will make more money per book than you would with a standard publishing contract, which generally fall in the 5 – 15% royalty range. As a self- publisher, you’ll make somewhere in the range of 20 – 80% of the purchase price. Those are very favorable numbers, but that’s a big piece of a small pie. After your book has shown some initial success, you may want to leverage that success with a publisher to negotiate a higher percentage of a standard contract and reach a much larger audience, with the publisher’s marketing push. That will enable you to accomplish the goal of turning out the book the way you wanted it to be, achieving a measure of success on your own and then having a big publisher give you a bigger piece of the pie as your book is marketed and exposed to many more people.

3. “Where’s the baby?”

When your book is finished, you want it in your hand as soon as possible….and even more importantly, you’ll want it in the hands of your audience. As a self publisher you can have your book in print within days…..a few weeks at the most.  That way, it’s recently completed, it’s fresh, there’s enthusiasm behind it. Larger publishers tend to work on 18-month cycles, which is way too long to wait for your baby to be born.  With self-publishing, you get the relatively immediate gratification of seeing your product, and a big head start on selling it to the public.

4. Leveling the Distribution Field

The Internet has turned out to be a great vehicle for self- publishers. You can get distribution for your book through Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, as well as a host of other distributors that you can find online.  Thanks to the Internet, you can get distribution as easily as HarperCollins and Random House can for their books. Considering that the lack of distribution options used to be a hurdle for self-publishers, this is no longer an issue.

5. Leaving a Legacy

Self-publishing is an excellent way of preserving your heritage, or that of your club, community, etc.  If you want to leave a legacy for your family or share your knowledge with others, self -publishing allows you to economically turn out a quality piece.

6. Where to Go

You can have your book printed inexpensively and quickly through Alta-graphics.com.  We print in color or black & white on any paper stock, in quantities as low as 10.

We have extensive experience helping people turn their manuscripts into a professional-looking book, as well as assisting in creating a cover that will deliver maximum impact to your target audience.

On our book printing page you can fill in your requirements for quantity, size, the number of pages in black & white or color, type of book binding, cover layout service, page layout service, and proofing….which then gives you the cost on the spot. There are icons next to each category that you can scroll over and get quick tips and facts for that particular aspect of the process.

So, is self-publishing a novel for you? The answer is ‘yes’ if you want to retain complete control over every aspect of your book, have it printed economically and hold it in your hands much, much sooner than you would with a big publisher. Learn Self-Publishing 101 today.